A BATHURST man who is pushing for an investment in rail over the Blue Mountains rather than a duplication of the Great Western Highway hopes concerns in the NSW upper house about the project will be taken further.
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Chris O'Rourke has created a website in which he advocates for a European-style "rolling highway" in which cars and trucks roll on and off flat bed rail wagons at the beginning and end of a journey.
He says he is concerned the planned duplication of the Great Western Highway from Katoomba to Lithgow, for which the NSW Government has committed $2.5 billion so far, will not achieve its aims of reducing congestion and cutting travel times.
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The project was announced in Bathurst in the lead-up to the 2019 state election.
Mr O'Rourke's website now has a link to the Hansard record of a recent discussion in the NSW Legislative Council about rail freight and the highway duplication.
The house passed a motion from the Greens' Abigail Boyd that called, in part, on the NSW Government to conduct a comprehensive analysis for an integrated transport approach to freight and passenger movements between the Central West and the NSW coast; and explore the feasibility of upgrading the Blue Mountains rail line to expand freight and passenger capacity.
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The NSW Coalition does not have a majority in the upper house.
During the discussion about the motion, Ms Boyd said "communities across the Blue Mountains, including Katoomba, Medlow Bath and Blackheath, are coming together to oppose the proposed duplication of the Great Western Highway, which would not only bulldoze those historic towns but also would expose them to convoy after convoy of B-double trucks carrying freight to and from Central West NSW".
The Nationals' Sam Farraway, from Bathurst, said the highway duplication is "a landmark commitment to the people of the Blue Mountains and the opening up of access to the state's west".
"The government recognises that a decade-long infrastructure project such as this is incredibly complex and requires careful planning and extensive community consultation to get it right," he said.
"We are not afraid to think big and get beyond the next election cycle."
Mr Farraway said Transport for NSW had engaged a contractor to prepare a strategic business case for the Great Western Highway upgrade program and it is expected to be completed at the end of this year.
Mr O'Rourke said he had been calling for an investment in rail, not roads, in the Blue Mountains since late 2019.
